For various reasons, it may be desirable to damp sound, or reduce noise, in a particular location. Conventional structures used for noise reduction include damping materials such as drywall, mass-loaded vinyl, foam sheets, end-grain balsa, etc. Such materials are not designed to absorb sound energy based on their geometric properties; rather, they damp sound based on density of the material. For example, increasing the density of a material may increase sound absorption performance. Increasing the amount of a material, such as its thickness in the direction of sound propagation, may further increase sound absorption performance. Accordingly, conventional sound damping structures may be heavy, bulky, and/or not specifically designed for sound absorption.
Further, conventional methods for manufacturing sound damping structures may be expensive and complicated, and include bonding, beveling, cutting, and/or shaping the damping materials to fit a three-dimensional space of a particular location. For instance, honeycomb panels, which are widely used in the aerospace industry to absorb sound within an aircraft, are relatively lightweight but must be adhesively bonded and machine cut to desired dimensions in order to fit in a particular space within an aircraft. Thus, it would be desirable to further reduce manufacturing costs and lead time for the production of sound damping structures.